Heart of Ashes
by OmegaWolfSaint
Summary: "Keeping anger bottled up is tough, ESPECIALLY when you've been doing it for as long as I have." When the king of the gods sent a boy on an impossible mission, Zeus never anticipated what would happen when the boy returned. The mission has been complete for two years. The boy is skilled, deadly, and he is pissed. Rated T cause I'm paranoid.
1. Chapter 1

**REDO**

**I do not own Percy Jackson, Marvel, Queen, Green day, AC/DC, or F-Zero.**

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**CHAPTER 1**

A lone boy marched through the freezing woods of Maine, the freshly laid snow crunching under his feet. A brown cloak was wrapped around his shoulders, billowing to the right in the wind. The hood was off, letting his long, messy, black hair float in the wind. Underneath that hair, cutting through his left eyebrow and crossing the bridge of his nose was a large jagged scar that looked as if it had been carved into his face by a dull, serrated weapon. Many years of living in the wild and constant monster attacks had left him with many battle scars.

"Oh my GOOOOODS."

His reddish-brown eyes were dull, the boredom of trekking through a constantly static landscape slowly getting to him.

"How hard is it to find a damn castle?"

Given, what he was looking for wasn't actually a castle, but from what he had heard, it might as well have been. Somewhere in the icy woods was a massive military academy that, from images he had seen, looked exactly like a medieval castle, turrets and all.

An extra thirty minutes of wasted time later, he could finally make out a massive brick building in the distance, covered in sheets of ice.

"Oh dear Demeter, thank the gods"

He jogged the rest of the distance, eager to approach his destination as fast as possible.

"Why in the world would the Manticore be here?"

The manticore was the boy's current target, a part man, part lion, part scorpion creature that was posing as a principal for some reason.

He finished his short jog as he reached the massive, ice caked, stone brick walls of the school. Reaching forward, he raked a hand across the slabs of stone, the ice cracking into pieces as his hand disconnected the frozen material from the wall.

He began circling the perimeter of the building, hoping to find an entrance. It took a minute or two, but his marching led him to the front doors, large and wooden with brass knockers in the shape of a lion's head, the ring going through the teeth of the large feline.

"Here we go."

He shoved the doors open and stepped inside, the slightly warmer air from indoors blasting out in a large wave. The stone brick walls were lined with torches, enforcing his belief that it was a castle even more. He turned to close the doors, but-

"Excuse me, may I help you?"

He turned toward the source of the voice to see a woman standing there. One thing immediately stood out to him, and it was the fact that she had the beginnings of a wispy mustache on her upper lip. He couldn't think of any response that dignified a teenager carrying weapons to be in a school during the day other than 'I'm clinically insane!', so he chose the option that seemed to make the most sense at the time. He shut his mouth and pursed his lips.

"If you're not a guardian of one of our students, I'm afraid I will have to call the police." The woman said, reaching for her pocket.

He stomped one foot forwards and snapped. All the torches down the hall flickered as a mysterious gust of wind blew through the corridor.

"What are you talking about?" He said, feigning confusion and standing up straight, "I'm a student here."

"Oh! That's right. Why aren't you in the gymnasium? Mr… uh…"

"I was allowed out for a bathroom break."

"Oh, Okay. Carry on then."

The woman, a misty film now covering her eyes, turned and walked down the hall, disappearing as if nothing had ever happened. The boy let out a sigh of relief that he didn't know he'd been holding and continued walking down the hall. It only took a moment before he heard pop music, Jesse McCartney, blaring from a set of doors on the left side of the hall.

"Why can't they play Green Day or AC/DC? It has to be Jesse McCartney?" He complained, moving towards the doors and peeking inside. Immediately he noticed the two kids sitting near the top of the bleachers, clearly trying to avoid having to socialize. Mostly the older sister, because the younger brother seemed like the hyperactive type, the one who makes friends with everybody. Both were children of Hades, it was quite obvious.

On the dance floor, there was a satyr and three other demigods, one a son of Hermes, one a daughter of Athena, and the last a Daughter of…

_Zeus._

The very thought of the name made his heart hurt, from both anger and sadness. He quickly shook off the feeling, pushing the flames of rage back down into his gut before he did something he might end up regretting.

"He'll get what's coming to him," the boy reassured himself. He steadied himself and had almost walked into the gymnasium before a chill went down his spine.

'It's near.' He thought. Reaching down to his left hand, his fingers gently glided across the silvery band that was wrapped around his ring finger. A pulse of reminiscence passed through his body as his eyes fell upon the image on the ring. It was a swirling fire, a simple symbol, but it held much more meaning. He sighed as a weak smile appeared on his face, but quickly steeled himself.

'Later.' He thought. He twisted the ring, and in a flash of sparks, a glowing red spear appeared in his hand.

"Now where are you…"

"Can I help you, young man?"

A sharply dressed man with two different colored eyes and a strange accent was standing right beside him, sending strangely terrifying waves of intimidation towards the boy. He spun around in a flash, his eyes uncharacteristically wide as he attempted and failed to hide the glowing spear behind his back.

"Uhh…"

"Weapons are not allowed on campus, kid."

The boy quickly shot a hand forward and snapped.

"This is not-"

"Manipulating the mist will not work on me, Olympian spawn."

"How-"

_CRACK_

The boy gasped as an almost unbearable searing pain erupted in his left shoulder. He could barely register what had even happened, but what he could tell was that his left arm was pretty much out of commission, and the attack had enough force to smash a hole in the stone brick wall behind him, even after passing through the appendage.

"You're coming with me.

The man, in a ridiculously fast motion, so fast that the boy could barely see him move, slapped the spear from the boy's grip and sent it clattering down the hall. The boy bit back a growl as it skittered away.

"That was a gift," He snarled, thrashing his shoulders in an attempt to break free, only leading to a burst of pain shooting through his left side.

"Silence," The man demanded, "before I have to do it myself."

The boy rolled his eyes sarcastically, eliciting an irritated noise from the man.

"Follow me. I have work to do, and you shall not leave my sight."

Before the boy had a chance to respond, the man marched into the gymnasium, where the loud pop music of Jesse McCartney was still blaring through the speakers.

"Not even Queen?" the boy groaned, much to the chagrin of the man.

"Be. QUIET."

"You know, _I'm a rocket ship on my way to mars! _Or _I'm Just a poor boy_-"

"Would you like another spine to the shoulder, or are you just trying to annoy me?" The man sighed.

"_Somebody to love!_ I'm just very good at being unintentionally irritating."

"Hmm. Quite."

"What? Too much pressure? _Pushing down on me, pressing down on you, no man ask for. Under-"_

The man shot a withering glare at the boy as a scorpion-like tail appeared and jabbed against his throat.

"Pressure!" the boy choked, stumbling back from the impact.

"Annoy me one more time and you die."

"Soo... you're the *cough* manticore, huh?"

"Call me Doctor Thorn if you must."

"Nah. I prefer Freaky Lion Man Scorpion thing, but y'know, whatever floats your boat."

The manticore, now dubbed Doctor Thorn, grunted in response and continued marching.

"So you're ignoring me now?"

Thorn, even if he heard the query, acted as if he heard nothing and began stomping up the bleachers, straight towards the two children of Hades.

"Do you want them because they're children of the Big Three?" the boy asked, poking Thorn in the shoulder. Thorn hissed at him to make him quiet just before they reached the two children.

"You two, come with me. We need to talk."

The older sister looked away from her brother and towards Thorn. Her face was almost covered by the floppy green cap on her head as she spoke.

"Did we do something wrong, Doctor?" She asked. It was clear she was trying to sound brave, for her brother if not for herself.

"Yes, you have."

The girl's gaze darted to the boy, who quickly shook his head.

"Just listen to him," He mouthed, "you'll get hurt if you don't."

She glanced at his shoulder, which was still visibly shredded open from the darts that Thorn had fired. She looked as if she was about to scream, but was interrupted by-

"Nine thousand attack damage, yes!"

All three of their pairs of eyes went to the younger brother, who was deeply invested in some card game that featured mythological creatures and gods.

"Nico!"

The boy thought that the sister was going to pass out as her face slowly turned more and more red.

"Nico, I need you to stay calm and quiet," She said as she grabbed her brother by the shoulders and hoisted him up.

"But I almost took down the Manticore!"

The boy's eyes widened as he became rigid. He could see Thorn's eyes narrowing exponentially.

"Nico, is it?"

"Yeah! Did you know that Apollo has plus thirty health and two thousand defense?!"

"Nico, now might not be the best time to talk about killing the Manticore."

"Why's that? Did you know he has three thousand attack power and plus five to saving throws?"

"NICO." The sister hissed, making Nico close his mouth.

"I believe I have much more than three thousand attack power," Thorn said, his narrowed eyes promising pain and suffering to the small child. Nico only glanced at Thorn for a moment, but the moment that they made eye contact, he froze up and began to hyperventilate.

"Bianca! He's a Manticore!" He whispered either terrified or excited, the boy couldn't tell which.

"Manticores don't exist, Nico," Bianca whispered as Thorn began marching back down the steps.

"Then I believe that you are in for a shocking revelation." He said, and for a split second, a lions mane sparkled around his head and a scorpions tail flashed into existence behind him before disappearing.

Bianca's olive-skinned face went as white as a ghost that had been dipped in baking soda.

"Oh my god." She managed to say.

"Come on, I don't want him to do to _you _what he did to me!" the boy whispered, gesturing to his left shoulder. Nico turned his head to look at the wound, to which he gasped in delight.

"It's turning green!"

The boy looked down at his wound to find that it was, in fact, turning green.

"That's sick." He groaned.

"Children! Come along!" Thorn called, sounding eerily cheery compared to how he had sounded before.

The boy began taking quick steps towards the basketball court, not having to look behind him to know that the two siblings were following him. Halfway down, he couldn't help but notice the three demigods and the satyr on the dance floor staring at him and the Hades demigods. They reached the bottom, where a waiting Thorn stood.

"Don't fall behind again, or your next breath might be your last." He growled, sending chills down the boy's spine.

It only took a few seconds with the fast walking of Doctor Thorn and the three following him not wanting to get too far behind for them to be back in the hallway that the boy had been in initially.

"So, do you know why I brought you out here?" Thorn asked, his venomous tone returned.

"Because I brought weapons into a school." the boy deadpanned.

"You brought weapons into the school?!" Bianca screeched, "What is WRONG with you?!"

"Trust me, you're gonna wish you had weapons soon." the boy said.

"You must know this already," Thorn said, gesturing to the boy, then turning to the children of Hades, "but you two, you are children of a Greek god. A very powerful god. Power goes a long way in this world, and The General wishes to have you two in his ranks. You could prove to be very valuable assets."

Bianca had both hands on her head, almost ripping her hair out from the sudden information, and Nico just looked excited or scared. Or both.

"No. No, no. NO!" Bianca said, "This isn't real! Greek gods aren't real!"

"Does Zeus really do six hundred damage with each lightning bolt?!" Nico shouted, jumping and tugging on the edge of the boy's cloak.

"Trust me, kid. Zeus does a lot more damage than that." the boy said, looking away angrily.

"So… seven hundred?"

"Nico!" Bianca shouted, "This can't be real! They're just messing with us!"

"Maybe this will be proof enough," Thorn said.

In a split second Thorn had transformed from a regular-ish man to a monstrous looking creature, a man's face on a lion's body with the tail of a scorpion.

"Do you believe now?" Thorn's icy voice cut through the air like shards of broken glass.

Bianca's face, if possible, got even paler as all the air in her lungs seemed to disappear.

"Nico, Bianca, do you trust me?" The boy hissed, never looking away from the monster.

"I don't even know your name!" Bianca gasped, unable to look away from the monster standing in front of them.

"Do you trust me?!"

Bianca, for the smallest moment, glanced into the eyes of the boy. It went unspoken, but the boy could see it in her eyes.

I trust you.

Nico still stood in awe at the monster in front of him.

"Are you… real?" He whispered, about to touch the Manticore, who wore an evil grin as his tail tensed, ready to strike.

The boy almost panicked.

But Bianca had pretty good reflexes.

"Nico, NO!"

The boy watched as Bianca lunged forward, tackling Nico out of the way of the Manticore, who attacked just a moment later, its tail crushing through the floor like a wrecking ball in the exact spot that Nico had been.

"On my count, run like hell." the boy called as the Manticore switched its focus to him.

Waiting for the perfect moment, the boy held his open hand at his side, a tugging sensation appearing in his gut.

"NOW!"

The Manticore swing a massive paw at the boy, but before it reached him, the glowing spear shot back into the boy's hands. The Manticore's eyes widened for a split second before the spear slammed into its face with the force of a warhammer in the hands of Atlas, sending him flying across the corridor and smashing through the wall.

"Whoa." Nico marveled, stopping running to watch the fight.

"KEEP GOING, NICO!" the boy yelled as he began sprinting towards the door as well.

Nico's eyes widened as the Manticore crawled back through the wall.

"Oh dang."

"DI ANGELO!" Thorn shouted, his tail twisting around and sending a barrage of spines straight at Nico.

"_NICO!_" Bianca screamed, "_NO!_"

The boy suddenly appeared in front of Nico, twisting and turning as his spear sliced almost every spine out of the air before they could reach Nico.

Thorn growled and crouched down, tensing his leg muscles and tendons as he prepared to pounce.

"Alright then." the boy said, "You asked for it."

The spear suddenly disappeared into thin air as he reached up to pull the charm around his neck. Another simple image, a silver arrow, yet still containing so much more value.

"WHAT'S THAT GONNA DO?!" Bianca shouted.

In the blink of an eye, a bright silvery bow appeared in his hands, the steely arrow glowing with an ethereal power.

"Need a hand?" He quipped before releasing the arrow. It sliced through the air with deadly precision before impaling itself through the front right paw of the Manticore and into the floor, effectively pinning it in place. Thorn screeched in pain and thrashed around trying to escape.

"Really? Need a hand?" Bianca asked sarcastically as the boy met them at the door.

"Eh." the boy shrugged as the bow disappeared from his hands.

"WHOA! HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!" Nico shouted in excitement, hopping up and down.

"I'll explain later, but we need to go."

Thorn, behind them, ripped his paw from the floor and whipped his glare to the three, who began to run.

"Oh my god ohmygodohmygod," Bianca said in a hushed voice as they sprinted out the doors.

"Calm down, just don't look back." the boy said, turning to the right, "This way!"

Bianca, continuing to sprint, decided to look back.

"_GET BACK HERE!_" Thorn roared, charging at the three like a runaway freight train.

"I TOLD YOU TO NOT LOOK BACK!"

"You should know that when you tell people to not look back, THEY LOOK BACK!"

The three somehow barely managed to keep ahead of the rampaging monster for the next few minutes as they were relentlessly pursued down a weathered path dimly lit by old-fashioned lamplights.

"Almost there…" He said in a hushed voice.

"Almost where?!" Bianca shouted

"On my way here I passed through a clearing near the cliff. Plenty of space for you and your brother to hide while I fight Thorn!" the boy said.

"Sounds good!"

They hopped over a line of bushes and into the clearing, Thorn dangerously close behind them.

"Alright, get behind me!" the boy said, abruptly stopping and twisting his ring.

Bianca grabbed Nico in her arms and dove past the boy, sliding towards the edge of the clearing as Thorn barreled towards the boy.

"I WILL DESTROY-"

Thorn suddenly began gasping for air as he flew past the boy, flopping to the ground and sliding to a stop near the Di Angelos

Looking down at his chest, Bianca and Nico could see that the glowing spear had pierced right through him.

"H-how…?" Thorn choked, trying and failing to stand back up.

"With great reflexes comes great response ability." the boy smirked, kicking Thorn's tail with his foot.

Thorn hissed weakly and collapsed before disintegrating into golden dust, the red spear dropping to the snowy ground with a thud and then disappearing.

"Everything that glitters is not gold. Bam."

"How in the world are you making jokes? You have a giant spike in your stomach!" Bianca shouted, gesturing to his abdomen.

"Huh." the boy said as he looked down, "When did that happen?"

"You missed one when you were slicing them out of the air!" Nico piped up.

"Ah. Right." the boy said, "Not a problem."

He reached down and ripped the spike from his midsection, and to the surprise of the Di Angelos, the wound closed itself.

"AWESOME!" Nico shouted, "HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!"

The boy looked down at his shoulder, where the poisoned laceration had already healed itself as well.

"Healing powers. I know it looks cool, but please don't tell anyone I can do that."

"Why?"

Before the boy had a chance to respond, a voice shouted from the foliage that they had just flown through a moment before, "I think they went this way!"

The boy quickly stuffed his charm under his shirt and crammed his ringed hand in his pocket as the three demigods and the satyr from the gymnasium hopped through the underbrush, weapons drawn.

Except for the satyr, who held a shredded tin can like a grenade, before taking a bite out of it.

"Nico! Bianca!" he said, spitting out the piece of metal and hiding the rest behind his back, "What happened?"

At that moment Bianca decided to remember everything that was going on.

"Holy shit." She said.

The satyr's face went as red as a tomato, while the daughter of Zeus chuckled.

"So you know about the gods, huh?" She asked, crossing her arms.

"WE JUST FOUGHT THE MANTICORE!" Nico exclaimed.

The three demigods and the satyr raised their weapons again.

"Where did he go?!" the son of Hermes growled, swinging his sword around wildly.

"He turned into dust!" Nico said.

The daughter of Athena almost dropped her knife in shock, eyes and mouth as wide as dinner plates.

"You killed him?!" she asked in disbelief.

"No," Bianca said, "he did."

For the first time, the three demigods and the satyr seemed to notice the boy standing there, who waved weakly.

"Hi." He said.

"You… uh… don't have any weapons?" The son of Hermes said.

"Sure I do." the boy said, lifting his hands up, the ring having been slipped off in his pocket, "They're called fists."

"And… you killed the Manticore... with your fists?"

"Actually-" Nico began but was cut off by the boy shooting a steely look at him.

"Yep! With his fists! It was like watching Captain Falcon fight it!" He exclaimed, pulling off the surprisingly convincing lie by throwing a few punches.

The daughter of Athena walked right up to the boy and circled him, seemingly analyzing everything about him.

"You obviously have godly blood, but I can't figure out which one it came from…" She mumbled.

"Uh, nice to meet you too… I guess?" the boy said.

"Russet eyes? Black hair? Who could that be?"

"Is she always like this?" He asked the daughter of Zeus, who huffed out a few laughs.

"It's like clockwork. Hephaestus kids build stuff, Demeter kids grow stuff, Athena kids think… stuff. I'm Thalia by the way." She said.

"Nice to meet you," he said, still focused on the girl circling him.

"Are you gonna tell us your name, or…?"

"Just… call me whatever you want."

"So you'd be fine if I called you like… Lightning McQueen?"

"Uh… sure, but I've gotta know, why are you guys here? The Manticore?"

"We were here to bring those two" She pointed at the Di Angelos, "back to camp. Truth be told, we had no clue that the Manticore would be here. It would have been nice to know in advance though." She glared at the satyr.

"Hey!" He squeaked, "I told you he was a monster! I just didn't know which one..."

"Wait! Stop." Bianca said, stepping forward, "Camp?"

"Yeah! Camp is awesome!" The son of Hermes blurted out, "You get to learn how to use a sword or a bow, and there's a climbing wall that shoots lava!"

"That sounds AWESOME!" Nico said.

"No. NO! It does not sound awesome! Why would anyone ever want to climb a wall that shoots lava?!" Bianca shouted.

"Well, if you don't like the idea of camp, there's always the hunters-" The daughter of Athena began, but was cut off by the daughter of Zeus, Thalia.

"The hunters are no good little brats and you want nothing to do with them. Especially Zoë Nightshade, their lieutenant. All she does is fill your head with lies-"

She was suddenly cut off by a piercing hunting horn blasting through the freezing woods.

"Speak of the devil…"

"Son of a... I've avoided them just fine until now, and now they show up and I'm cornered on a cliff!" the boy growled.

"Uh-"

"DAMN IT!"

"Arrow!" Bianca squeaked.

It happened in less than a second. Three arrows flew out of the woods, all aimed at the boy, and before anyone could process what had happened, all three had been caught, two in his left hand which had gone limp at his side, and one in his right, which had stopped less than an inch from his face.

"Nice catch," Bianca said, her breath hitched.

Before the boy had a chance to respond, about thirty girls ranging from the age of eight to sixteen poured through the thicket surrounding the clearing, all bearing bows that were drawn back and trained upon the demigods.

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**Editors note: The 1st chapter is finally here! Sorry for the long wait but i needed to make sure we had some chapter lined up in case we have a lull week plus you know adulting. Anyway, the next chapter should be out next monday feb 11 2019. I liking the mystery that the author omega has set up here in this chapter. Can you guess who this mysterious boy is? Anyway i go by SpecterMn here on FF but i'm known everywhere else as TripleG so if you guys want to talk smack or interact with the author we have a lovely discord set up and a TBA social media to stay up to date! Sea you next time on Heart of Ashes!**

**Authors note: What he said.**


	2. Chapter 2

**HEyyy**

**It's finally here!**

**Okay, so I'm gonna go ahead and say that I cannot be trusted with a specific update schedule, but I hope to get one done every four weeks at the absolute longest. It SHOULDN'T take longer than two, but just in case, four because it may take longer than two.**

**I would like to thank all the reviewers for liking the story.**

**so...**

**Thanks!**

**I do not own Percy Jackson, The Fantastic Four, The Guardians of the Galaxy, The Defenders, or Apollo's haiku.**

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**CHAPTER 2**

"Permission to fire Milady?" one of the older looking hunters said, her volcanic black eyes piercing right through the boy's soul.

"Zoë Nightshade." the boy smirked, "you finally caught me."

"Silence. Lady Artemis will deal with you in time."

"Wait, you know the hunters?" Thalia asked, raising a finger to point at the boy.

"There have been several… ah… incidents… where I killed their kill. It has happened more times than I would like to admit."

"And you escaped unharmed."

"No. Definitely not. Where do you think I got this scar?" He lifted his shirt, revealing what looked like a stab wound on the left side of his abdomen, surrounded by three other marks, two looking as if they were from monster claws, and the third from some unidentifiable weapon, almost in the shape of a bolt of lightning.

"Which one?"

"I would have preferred to land more than one hit." Zoë hissed.

"It's not my fault that I have good reflexes." The boy lowered his shirt back down, covering the scars, "Heh, oh wait, yeah it is."

"I said SILENCE!" Zoë growled before launching an arrow at the boy, who, in an instant, had dodged the projectile.

"HA! Too slow!" He taunted as another arrow sailed past his head.

"Zoë!" A surprisingly loud voice boomed, "I never gave you the order to fire!"

"Apologies, Milady, but he was getting on my nerves." Zoë shot a murderous glare at the boy, whose eyes widened at the voice of the Goddess of the hunt, Artemis.

"My lady." He quickly dropped to one knee and bowed his head as the Goddess seemingly phased into existence in front of him.

"Get up. You have killed our target. Again. Are you going to tell us why this time?"

"Y'know, we've gone through this many times before, and every single time, I escape." the boy said, leaning down over the goddesses twelve-year-old stature.

"And every single time," the goddess instantly looked much older, at least six inches taller than the boy's six-foot stature, "we learn more. I don't know if you've noticed, but you are cornered. There is no escape this time."

"Believe me, I noticed." the boy said, putting a hand on his chin thoughtfully, "Alright. I'll tell you what. You get your posse of prissies to lower their weapons, and I'll tell you why I killed the manticore."

"Would you care to repeat that?" Zoë growled, a cold sharp arrow poking the back of the boy's head.

"No, not really. I've got plenty more insults than that!" The boy said.

"Please list some. I would love more reason to kill you."

"Ah, no thanks Silver surfer, I've gotta save them for when I need them."

"Hehe." Nico giggled behind the boy, "Silver surfer."

"DO YOU _WANT _AN ARROW TO THE ASS?" Zoë screeched, shoving the pointed projectile further into the boy's head.

"Zoë!" Artemis shouted, "Calm down. He agreed to give us information if we stand down."

"I'm a man of my word." he said, gently moving his head away from Zoë's arrow, "But that word is pretty useless if I'm dead."

"She can kill you?" Nico asked in a hushed tone.

"Yeah." The boy said, avoiding Zoë's glare, "She's the kind of person who would rip out your throat with her bare hands, and then ask questions. Of course, you wouldn't be able to answer those questions because she ripped out your thr- Nevermind. Point is, she can and will kill you."

"The only thing stopping me from doing so right now is Lady Artemis." Zoë huffed.

"Don't worry, I won't let her hurt you. If she rips out your throat I'll rip hers out. That way she can't yell at me for avenging you."

The boy almost shivered as he swore there was venom dripping from Zoë's mouth.

"If you rip out any of my hunter's throats, you will be dead before you know what happened," Artemis said, a hint of warning in her voice.

"Oh calm down, I won't hurt them." the boy said, before his eyes gained a poisonous tint, "But if they hurt this kid," He gestured to Nico, who had about half of the hunter's bows trained on him, "they die."

"And why would that be?" Artemis questioned, her hand resting on her knife.

"If you harm the innocent, you are no better than the guilty."

Artemis's eyes widened. She waved her hand, and all the Hunters lowered their bows.

"I swear upon the Styx that no harm will come to the boy as long as you and his sister come with me. I have questions for both of you."

"What does Sticks mean?" Bianca whispered, "Like on a tree?"

"Styx." the boy said, "S-T-Y-X. The river that divides the mortal realm and the underworld. If you swear on it, you can't break your promise or you die. I think you fall in the water and your soul gets ripped out or something."

"That sounds awful."

"Yeah. You can't even dip your fingers in it. It'll hurt. I mean, your fingers would become indestructible, which is cool. Papercut immunity."

"So if you jump in the water you either die or become indestructible."

"Like Achilles!" Nico shouted, "He has six thousand attack and fourteen thousand defense!"

"But weak to heel shots, right?" the boy asked jokingly.

"Heel shots aren't a thing."

The boy shook his head as a smile tugged at the edges of his lips.

"Okay, you two," Artemis spoke up, pointing at Bianca and the boy, "Follow me to my tent. We have much to talk about."

"There are no tents around here." Bianca said, double checking her surroundings, "Are they camouflaged?"

"Hunters!" Artemis said, "Set up camp!"

Less than twenty seconds later, a campsite full of silvery tents surrounded them.

"That was fast." the boy said, "I've never seen them put up the tents before."

"This way." Artemis turned on her heels and began marching toward the largest tent, which had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

"We'd better follow her." the boy said, "I would prefer to stay a fully intact male."

"She castrates people?!" Bianca whisper-yelled.

"You're amazing at inferring things. Anyway, yes, to the people she hates. I happen to be someone that she hates."

"She won't do that to Nico, will she?" she asked, her face unusually pale.

"Nah."

"Oh thank god."

"I mean, unless he annoys them to that point. If he talks about that game too much they just might."

Bianca's legs turned to jelly.

"Hey! Hey, calm down!" the boy said, catching her before she hit the ground, "I was just joking. They literally can't even scratch him without having their souls ripped from their bodies."

Bianca stood back up and slapped him.

"You asshole!"

"Yeah, I deserved that. Ow."

They quickly jogged over to the tent that Artemis had disappeared into.

"So," Artemis said as the two entered the tent, "tell me why you're here."

The boy shrugged. "Would you believe me if I told you I just wanted to kill the manticore?"

"Not one bit."

"Reasonable. Uh… would you believe me if I told you Zeus sent me?"

"Again, not one bit."

"That's too bad. That one's actually true."

Artemis narrowed her eyes. "I think I would have known if my father sent you."

"I swear on the Styx that Zeus is the reason that I'm here."

Thunder roared through the woods like a tsunami, signifying that he had spoken the truth.

"Interesting. And… did the Manticore tell you anything about why it was here?"

"Hey, I only agreed to tell you why I killed him."

"You dare defy an Olympian?"

"I don't want to, but I'm afraid that if I tell you I would be defying one."

Artemis glared at him.

"Right. He said something about 'The General', who I can only assume is Atlas based on stories I've heard about the first Titan war."

Artemis closed her eyes for a moment and sighed.

"You would be correct. Give me a moment to call Zoë. She has a very... personal... relationship with him."

A second later, Zoë peeked through the tent flaps.

"You called, Milady?"

"She didn't even say Zoë's name. What just happened?" Bianca whispered.

"Zoë, the General sent the manticore."

"That was really straight to the point." the boy said.

"Milady, with all due respect, that is quite impossible," Zoë said, sending distasteful glares towards the boy.

"Zoë, with all that has been going on of late, you cannot simply throw the suggestion to the side."

"Artemis, I refuse to believe this without proof. Atlas cannot simply stop holding the sky."

"Maybe he got someone to hold it for him." the boy suggested.

"I cannot accept this as a possible scenario."

"Zoë-" Artemis began.

"Atlas cannot have escaped!"

"Zoë!"

Zoë, who was about to open her mouth, decided to keep it shut.

"Zoë, you are acting childish!"

"SWEAR IT!" Zoë shouted, turning and holding a knife to the boy's throat, "SWEAR IT ON THE STYX!"

The boy gulped and pushed the knife away, only to have another replace it.

"I swear on the Styx that the Manticore gave me that information."

Zoë slumped down to the floor and cursed as thunder rumbled in the distance.

"Wait. Wait a minute." Bianca cut in, "Somebody has to hold the sky up?"

"Bianca, have you heard of the Greek gods?" Artemis asked.

"Yeah, I know about that! I just got chased through the forest by the MANTICORE!" Bianca shouted.

"Then you must know about the Titans as well."

"Uh… like… Rhea? Or Helios?"

"Yes, they are Titans, but they are not the ones I was thinking of. There are plenty of them that were villainous tyrants and wanted nothing to do with the Gods."

"OH. So like, Kronos."

An eerie chill filled the tent at the mention of the Titan lord.

"My dear, names are powerful. While the King of the Titans may be mostly in Tartarus, he is rising. Saying his name may allow him access to your mind, where he can twist your view on reality and force you to join him."

Bianca swallowed thickly and apologized.

"It's fine. Anyway, Atlas is one of those Titans who wants the Gods dead. After the first Titan war, his punishment was to hold the sky. The only way he could have escaped is to have someone take his place."

"Meaning…?

"Meaning Atlas has escaped. I need to go west to confirm this."

"Milady, let me accompany you. Two heads are always better than one." Zoë said, "Besides, I know more about Atlas than anybody!"

"Zoë, I need you to stay with the hunt. You are the most experienced hunter I have, and therefore the most qualified to lead in my absence."

Zoë breathed in deeply and sighed. "As you wish, My lady."

"I must tell the other hunters about this." Artemis said, "Come with me." She stood up to leave, but Bianca spoke up.

"Did you have something to say to me or did you just drag me in here for no reason?" She asked, her hands on her hips.

"I did, but I believe Atlas escaping is a much more pressing matter than you joining the hunt."

Bianca seemed to accept that answer as Artemis stepped out of the tent and announced her presence, followed closely behind by the two girls and the boy.

"Hunters!"

Almost as if they were robotic, every one of the hunter's heads turned to the Goddess of the Hunt.

"I am afraid to inform you all that Atlas may have escaped from underneath the sky."

One collective gasp sounded throughout the clearing.

"I must go west to see if this is true. While I am gone, you will all be staying at Camp Half-blood-"

Every single one began protesting, only to be cut off by Artemis's shout.

"QUIET! I should only be gone for a few days. Apollo should be here to take you soon."

"My lady, please reconsider. Let me come with you!" Zoë pleaded.

"Zoë. It will only be a few days. You can survive that long at camp. Just… please do not burn any more cabins down."

"You burnt a cabin down?" the boy asked incredulously, "Which one?"

"Cabin-s." Artemis said, putting extra emphasis on the s, "One of Aphrodite's daughters thought it would be a good idea to paint my cabin bright pink. The huntresses retaliated by setting the Aphrodite cabin ablaze, and then the fire spread."

The boy chuckled a little. "Nice."

"Uh… not to rain on your parade or anything," Thalia said, scratching the back of her neck, "but how are we supposed to get there?"

Artemis closed her eyes again, similar to when she had summoned Zoë.

"Seriously, what is she doing?" Bianca whispered, leaning to get a better look at the Goddesses face, "Praying? Wait, who does a god pray to? Themselves?"

"Dawn approaches." Artemis said, her silver eyes still closed, "Zoë, break camp. I'm afraid there is only one way to get to long island quickly and safely."

"Oh no." the boy said, immediately realizing what she meant.

"Oh no? What's oh no?" Bianca asked nervously, "Do we have to do something deadly?"

"It depends." the boy responded, "You know how the sun gets across the sky?"

"I do!" Nico hopped up in front of the boy, "Apollo flies in the sun chariot!"

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure that we're gonna be riding the sun to camp."

Nico's jaw dropped to the floor.

"Are you SERIOUS?!"

"He, unfortunately, is correct." Artemis sighed, rubbing her temples.

"Unfortunately?" Bianca asked, raising an eyebrow worriedly.

"My brother is quite possibly the most irritating being in the universe. Just pray that he does not recite any poetry when he arrives. His verse is particularly bad."

"Especially after he visited Limerick." Zoë groaned, "I was prepared to kill him if I heard one more poem that began with '_There once was a goddess from Sparta'. _It was torturous."

Bianca's mouth made an 'Oh' shape, but no sound came out.

"Simply to avoid an argument, I will leave before he arrives." Artemis said, "Every time we are in the same area as one another we get into fights."

"Ain't that the truth." the boy said, "It's always 'Little sis this and Fiery ball of gas that."

"And how exactly would you know that?" Artemis asked, a glare present on her face.

"Well, there was one time that I ran into Zoë. We were both trying to kill the same Hydra. Zoë actually got that one before I did, but she still dragged me back to your camp. When we got there, Holy Hera, was it a sight to see. Artemis was at Apollo's throat, and Apollo was saying something about Perses or something. It genuinely looked like she wanted to kill him-"

"He deserved it!" Artemis threw an arm in the boy's direction before crossing them and turning away.

"For calling you Little Sis? Seems kind of petty to me."

Artemis's hands dropped to her side. "It wasn't about that."

"Then what was it about, huh? Siblings are supposed to love each other."

Behind the boy, Bianca draped an arm around Nico's shoulder.

Anger flared in Artemis's eyes. "How dare you speak to me like that!"

The boy's face remained stoic as he crossed his arms. "I'm just trying to help."

"It's not something I can fix!" Artemis shouted, a barely noticeable tear rolling down her face. "So I'm damn sure YOU can't fix it!"

The boy stepped back in shock.

"My lady, are you... crying?" Zoë asked, raising a hand to comfort her mistress.

Artemis brought a hand to her face, the lone tear sticking to her right index finger.

"I… I must go. Good luck."

With those words, Artemis began to disappear.

"Cover your eyes!" the boy called behind him. "You'll go blind if you look!"

With a brilliant flash of light, The Goddess of the Hunt had melted into light and vanished.

The boy took in a deep breath. "And then Zoë let me go. Story over.

Zoë spat in his direction.

The boy gasped in false hurt and placed a hand over his heart. "How could thee? You wound me so!"

Nico giggled behind him.

"So when's he supposed to get here?" Bianca asked, looking around in the sky for the sun.

"Sunrise," Thalia responded, looking out over the ocean instead.

"Meaning?"

"Right now."

As if on cue, a blindingly bright light exploded throughout the sky as the glowing ball appeared over the horizon.

"Is that him?" Nico asked, shielding his eyes from the light.

"No doubt." the boy said, "He loves being in the spotlight. Now make sure not to look until he parks. You'll probably go blind if you watch."

The glowing ball on the horizon quickly got closer, the air getting hotter by the second.

"It feels like the air is boiling!" Bianca shouted.

The glowing ball slowed to a stop on the edge of the cliff, sliding into a perfect parallel park.

"Wait, did you say park?"

The ball quickly dissolved into a fancy looking sports car.

"Is that a Maserati Spyder?" The son of Hermes marveled, stepping closer. He almost reached to touch it but was interrupted by a deep male voice.

"I wouldn't touch that if I were you. It's pretty hot."

The driver's side door slammed shut as a tall man wearing a sleeveless T-shirt, jeans, and loafers stepped out. He wore golden sunglasses and had bright blonde hair that was spiked up to look like it was on fire. His smile was wide and playful, showing off rows of perfect, blindingly white teeth.

"Hellooooo LADIES!" He boomed, his voice projecting through the clearing like he had a megaphone, "YOUR STAR," he whipped his sunglasses off, "HAS ARRIVED!"

The god scanned the area, counting all the people that would be riding the sun. "So, Arty needed my help? I feel a haiku coming on!"

The hunters collectively groaned as the Sun God cleared his throat.

"_Green grass breaks through snow_

_Artemis pleads for my help_

_I am so cool."_

Nico's jaw was on the floor. "We just heard poetry from the GOD OF POETRY! _**AWESOME!**_"

The daughter of Athena grimaced. "You missed a syllable."

"Did I? Hm. _Green grass_… that's five… _pleads for help_, also right, _so cool_…"

Bianca snorted. "Do you think he's gonna-"

"_**CRAP!**_"

Bianca jumped at the sudden increase in volume.

Apollo sighed and rubbed his face. "I'm slipping. Back in the day, I could speak in only haikus for YEARS at a time!"

Zoë shivered as she spoke, "They were dark times."

Apollo frowned for a second before his blindingly bright smile reappeared.

"So who wants to drive?"

Nico raised his hand and began jumping.

"Nah, too young." Apollo waved him off.

The satyr raised his hand as well.

"Too… furry."

He kept scanning the area before his eyes finally settled on the boy.

"How about you? You're old enough to drive, right?"

The boy crossed his arms and leaned against a tree. "No thanks. I'm sure Thalia would like to though. I think she's about sixteen."

The color drained from Thalia's face as Apollo turned toward her.

"No no no no no. Nonononono. I don't want to drive!"

"Aw come on!" The sun god smiled brighter, "Daughter of Zeus, flying the sun, what could go wrong? The sky IS his domain!"

Before Thalia could protest, Apollo had snapped his fingers and she had appeared behind the wheel. She tried to sink into the seat, glaring at a speck of dust on the windshield.

"Excuse me," a red-haired hunter spoke up, glaring at the sun god, "That car is quite small, and I refuse to sit anywhere near you."

Apollo feigned hurt for a moment before chuckling. "That's understandable. Well, I hate changing it out of sports car mode, but duty calls!"

He pressed a button on his car keys, causing a sharp _chirp-chirp _as the car slowly changed into a dark gray turtle top bus.

"Aw, now it looks lame." The son of Hermes complained.

"Hey now," Apollo wagged his finger at the boy, "It's still the sun. ALL ABOARD!"

The silver-clad girls quickly piled onto the bus and crammed themselves into the very back.

"They really hate us, don't they?" Nico asked, "What did we ever do to them?"

The boy placed a hand on Nico's shoulder. "It's not your fault. They hate all men. The male gender is like a virus to them, they stay as far away as possible, and when that's not possible they try and kill it."

"But… why?"

The boy barked out a laugh. "Well, personally, I annoy them whenever I have the chance."

"What about me?"

The boy kneeled down, his hand never leaving Nico's shoulder. "Listen, you can't blame them. They've been through some shit."

Nico giggled.

The boy ran a hand through his tousled hair, chuckling.

"What are you laughing at? You laughing cause I said shit?

Nico snorted.

"My gods, you have the maturity of a twelve-year-old." The boy said.

"I'm ten!"

"Oh. Well, then you're pretty mature for your age."

"Alright! Enough chitter chatter!" Apollo announced, "Everyone on the bus!

The rest of the demigods crowded onto the bus, unaware of the curious look that Apollo shot the boy as he passed.

"Do you even know how to drive?" The boy whispered to the girl behind the wheel as he sat down.

"Shut up and go to Hades. If we die it's your fault cause you put me here."

"Come on, you're almost sixteen. You need the practice."

Thalia growled incoherent words as her hands clasped to the wheel.

"So, you ever driven before?" Apollo cheerily asked as he stepped on the bus, the doors slamming shut behind him.

Thalia shook her head. "I've been a tree for the past six years."

The boy choked.

"W-what?" He chuckled.

"Shut up! How about you try being a tree, Iron Fist!"

"Oh come on, Groot. You're trying too hard."

"Do you remember when I asked for your opinion? Me neither."

The boy almost responded but collapsed backward into a seat and began laughing before he could form a word.

"Okay," Apollo stepped closer to Thalia, "on the floor there are two pedals. The one on the right is the gas. Press that to go forward.

**VVVRRRRRRRRRRMMMMMMM**

**Author Note:**

**Editor Note: Sorry guys for the delay. 100% my fault. I've been super busy as of late due to a DECA competition. Anyway we will be back on schedule from now on. We got some exciting things planned for you!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't have anything to say so I'm just gonna talk about some reviews**

**Kacher**

**Believe me when I say we've got it all planned out. TripleG made me do more planning than I thought I needed to do. Turns out I probably still haven't planned enough.**

**As for what year it's in, I'm just assuming present day, and even if it was set at the time that the book came out, 2007, Groot would have TECHNICALLY been a thing for 47 years.**

**And with the hunters being jerks to all males, I'm kind of going to address that as well. I came up with this quote forever ago that I really wanted to use and I'm just waiting for the perfect spot to put it in.**

**I do not own Percy Jackson**

* * *

**CHAPTER 3**

The bus suddenly lurched forward and soared right off the cliff.

There was a muffled "HOLY SHIT!" from the back of the bus as they began falling.

_"THALIA YOU NEED TO KEEP YOUR FOOT ON THE PEDAL!" _Apollo screamed, blindly trying to grab something for support.

Just before the vehicle slammed into the ocean below, another loud roar of the engine pierced the air as the bus shot upward like it had been launched from a slingshot.

"OH MY GODS!" the daughter of Athena screeched.

"TOO MUCH!" Apollo shrieked.

Thalia let up off the gas pedal, and suddenly there was no gravity. Everyone had flown from their seats and were now freely floating in the air as the bus reached the apex of its arch. The color drained from everyone's faces as they began falling like a meteorite.

"THALIA PRESS THE GAS PEDAL LIGHTLY!" Apollo slapped the dash to punctuate his sentence.

The bus fell for a few more seconds before everything flattened out. Apollo was leaning on the size of the bus, clutching his chest like his heart was going to explode.

"Hhhhholy Zeus." he breathed. "How about I drive?"

"I got this. Got it in the bag." Thalia hissed, her hands clenched on the wheel so hard that her knuckles had gone bone white.

"Oh. Carry on then."

The boy stood up, dazed.

"Are you alright?" he asked, nauseously leaning against the edge of his seat.

Thalia exhaled through her nose heavily. "I. GOT. IT."

The bus swerved to the right and dropped a few hundred feet. Somewhere towards the back someone retched.

"HEY! NO PUKING ON THE SUN!" Apollo shouted.

The boy blinked a few times and took a deep breath.

"Thalia," he leaned in closer and whispered, "You don't happen to be afraid of heights, do you?"

Thalia stiffly shook her head.

"Then would you mind looking out the window?"

Thalia warily leaned over and peeked through the glass, only for her breath to hitch as she shot back as deep into the seat as she could go.

"Not afraid of heights." she growled, "I am not."

"Good. I just wanted to make sure you knew that you just set a house on fire down there. You should probably go back up some."

Thalia stomped on the gas pedal again.

After another ten minutes or so of the bumpiest driving in the universe, camp was in their sights.

"LAND HO!" Apollo whooped, "Alright, Thalia. I need you to gently press the brake so we don't slam into the ground and turn into a sun pancake. Gently."

"Okay. Gently."

Thalia slammed on the brakes as hard as she could.

"OHMYGODSWHYAREYOUDOINGTHISTOUS?!" Apollo cried as the bus began shooting down at a forty-five degree angle.

"THALIA NOT THAT FAST! PRETEND WE'RE AT A STOPLIGHT AND IT TURNED YELLOW!" the boy yelled, clutching his seat in a death grip.

"YELLOW MEANS THE LIGHTS GONNA TURN RED SO YOU SPEED UP SO YOU CAN MAKE IT THROUGH!" Thalia hissed through gritted teeth. If possible, the bus began to drop at a steeper angle, speeding up even more.

"_**NO!**_ NO THAT'S SO WRONG THAT I CAN'T EVEN EXPRESS HOW WRONG IT IS! THALIA, WE WILL _**DIE **_IF YOU DON'T SLOW DOWN!"

The ground below was approaching fast. The boy knew they had about five seconds before they slammed into the ground and got flattened like a crepe, so he has to think of something, and fast. Out of the corner of his eye he could see a lake with a few canoes in it.

"SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING!" Apollo gasped, pinned against the roof.

The boy dove forward and grabbed the wheel, jerking it to the right to aim them at the lake.

"BRACE FOR IMPACT!" he shouted.

_ SPLLOOOOOOOOSHHHHHHHHH_

_ Hisssssssss_

The bus slammed into the water like a missile, creating a massive splash as the vehicle went under. It rose back to the surface with a loud hiss and the sound of screaming demigods.

"WHAT. THE. SHIT." the boy said as he flopped to the floor, glaring at Thalia the whole time.

"Uhh… first time driver…" she said, blushing bright red.

"THAT. WAS. AWESOME!" Nico exclaimed as he hopped over the rows of seats toward the front, "IT WAS LIKE A ROLLERCOASTER! BUT BETTER!"

"Woo." the boy unenthusiastically raised a hand and weakly waved it around.

_Knock knock_

Everyone on the bus looked to the door, where two demigods on a canoe were sitting.

"Is everyone alright in there?" one asked, trying to look inside without flipping the boat.

"We're good! Lemme just get the door open!" Apollo said, hitting a button that caused the doors to swing open and slam into the canoe, flipping it violently.

"Oh shoot." he cringed, "Sorry guys!"

"There are people made of water over there!" Nico shouted, pointing out the open door, where a dozen shaking naiads stood on the shore with half woven baskets in hand.

"Also sorry!" Apollo yelled. One naiad wobbled for a moment before collapsing into a puddle of water and trickling back into the lake.

"Is everyone alright?" one of the canoe kids asked, climbing up into the vehicle, dripping wet.

"Somebody threw up, but other than that I think everyone is fine." the boy said from his place on the floor.

"We're gonna push you to shore."

"Sounds good. Just… Gimme a minute to get my blood pressure down."

"More canoes!" Nico shouted excitedly, "Do you get to canoe all the time here?!"

"I don't know. This is my first time here too."

"Wait-wait-wait stop." Thalia said, standing from the driver's seat, "How have you never been here before now? All the demigods are trained here."

"I kind of got… kicked out… of my home when I was younger. Nobody ever came and got me, so I've been living on my own for awhile now." the boy said.

"You never got claimed?"

"If you're talking about the hologram thing, then no, I never got claimed."

Thalia turned to the daughter of Athena sadly, who had a similar expression on her face.

"We… we both ran away from our homes when we were younger." the daughter of Athena said quietly.

The bus lurched forward as it collided with the shore, sending everyone stumbling toward the front.

The boy stood up and wrapped an arm around Thalia and the daughter of Athena's shoulders, trying to comfort them the best that he could.

"Come on. Let's get on dry land. My socks got soaked in the landing."

Thirty seconds later, the bus had been emptied of demigods and was flying off into the sky once again, flashing back into a sports car as it disappeared.

The boy swept his gaze across the landscape, taking in the new environment.

"So this is camp half-blood?" he asked, turning to the daughter of Athena.

"Yep. It's not much, but it's home. With a world as dangerous as ours, it's nice to know that there's a place that's… slightly less so."

"I've gotta say, I'm impressed. I was expecting like… tents and stuff."

The daughter of Athena giggled, "Because it's a camp?"

"Well, yeah. Maybe cabins. Do you have a fire pit?"

"We do singalong bonfires every once in a while."

The boy chuckled and rubbed his face.

"If that's the case, I may just stay here. The forest is cold and wet and boring. And wet."

The daughter of Athena and Thalia shared a look of surprise.

"Did you say the forest?" Thalia asked in a hushed tone.

"Sure did."

"Annie, does this not feel like it's crossing a line to you? They left him alone! In the wilderness!" Thalia whispered.

"Annie? Is that your name?" the boy raised an eyebrow at the daughter of Athena.

"Don't call me Annie," she growled, glaring at Thalia.

"Is it not your name?"

"Annabeth."

"OH. That makes a lot more sense. Did you know that if you took your name and took out an N and the B and then rearrange the letters you get Athena? You are a daughter of Athena, right?"

Annabeth was frozen, wide-eyed. Thalia was in a similar state.

"How did you know that…?" she asked tentatively.

The boy scratched the back of his head.

"Uhm… experience?"

"Experience doing what?"

It was too perfect. The joke fell right into place, and the boy had to say it.

"Daughters of Athena." he managed. He kept his composure for approximately half a second, but couldn't help bursting out laughing at the face Annabeth made.

"You're disgusting!" she shouted, swinging her fist into his side and sending him sprawling onto the ground.

"Oh my gods I was joking!"

It took him seven minutes and a swear on the Styx that he'd never done that with a girl to calm the raging daughter of Athena.

"We good?" he feebly asked, shielding his bruised face from the daughter of Athena as a precaution.

Annabeth huffed.

"Yeah. Are you alright?"

The boy winced as he rubbed his face.

"Peachy. Just for the record, that was totally worth it."

"Do you need nectar? Or ambrosia?"

The boy sniffed and rubbed his nose, leaving a trail of blood on his hand.

"Sure, if you have any." *sniff* "Holy Styx, now everything smells like blood. Ugh."

"Chiron might have some at the Big House, let's go see."

* * *

"Hey, Chiron?"

The disguised centaur looked up from his pinochle game to see two of his campers and a battered and bruised boy that he'd never seen before.

"Can I help you?" he asked, rolling away from the table he'd been positioned at.

"Do you have any ambrosia or nectar? Or… an Apollo kid?"

Chiron took another look at the boy, realizing that he was holding his nose and wincing, a steady stream of red pouring down his face.

"Would you mind telling me happened this time? Was it Clarisse again?"

"He made a bad joke and I beat him up," Annabeth said, shooting another distasteful look at the boy, who chuckled.

"Like I said, totally worth it," he said.

"Please, come in," Chiron said, but before he could move very far, the small, cupid-like man that he had been playing with spoke up.

"Excuse me, Anniebelle. It's quite rude that you ruined our game. Apologize." he said snidely.

The boy sniffed roughly as he stepped up to the tiny man.

"Excuse me, Cupid," he began sarcastically, clearly mocking the pudgy man, "It's quite rude that you ruined my stomach region. Apologize."

The small man's nostrils flared as he stood up, still completely eclipsed by the boy's much larger frame. He looked like he was going to smite the boy, but when the boy lifted his shirt up, revealing the lightning bolt shaped scar, fear filled the small man's eyes.

"Impossible…" he began but was interrupted by the boy.

"Now if you'll excuse us, Dionysus, I believe that I require medical attention."

The boy brushed past the stunned god and into the Big House, ignoring the stunned looks of the demigods and the centaur.

"What the hell was that?" Thalia hissed as they followed him into the room.

"Dionysus is trash." the boy said, moving toward the ping pong table in the center of the room.

"You are not wrong. Hey Chiron, where's the nectar?"

"Check down the hall in the refrigerator. There should be some in there."

Thalia nodded and headed into a side door, that the boy could only assume was the hallway.

"My dear," Chiron said, turning to Annabeth, "were you able to retrieve the demigods that Grover found?"

Annabeth nodded.

"Bianca and Nico are currently exploring. Would you like me to go get them?"

Before Chiron could respond, Thalia returned to the room with a glass of golden liquid that sparkled like the sun. She handed it to the boy gingerly, as if we're going to explode if it moved too roughly.

"You alright there?" the boy asked, taking the glass from her hand.

"Just… don't wanna drop that. We don't have that much of it."

Off to the side, Chiron nodded to Annabeth, who quickly left the room in search of the Di Angelos.

"Do the gods not give you more than a few glasses at a time or something?" he asked, examining the cup, practically hypnotized by the swirling gold liquid.

"I'm afraid not." Chiron said, "The gods believe that we shouldn't need any at all, that their children should be trained well enough to never be injured by the monsters."

The boy scoffed.

"Idiots."

Chiron and Thalia both recoiled from the boy, glancing upwards as if the roof were going to split open and swallow him whole. The boy just smiled and chuckled in response.

"My boy, I wouldn't go around calling the gods idiots if I were you," Chiron said wearily, still switching his gaze between the boy and the sky.

The boy just laughed and said, "I do believe that I will be perfectly fine. I've been to Olympus before, and there were these four gods that absolutely despised me. Lemme think… I believe it was Zeus, Hephaestus, Ares, and Dionysus. Those four probably still want me in Tartarus. The rest were at least decent though. Some, I may even go as far as saying that they liked me. If those four actually care enough to smite me, they'd have hell to pay. As for the rest of them, idiot is tame to some of the stuff I heard them get called."

Chiron looked no less shaken.

"Personally, I would still not call them idiots," he said.

"Eh, whatever."

The room was quiet for a few seconds before the boy spoke again.

"So you wanna explain why you gave me a whole glass of this stuff?" he asked, gesturing to the golden drink in his hand, "You DID just say you don't have that much."

"Well, typically when someone comes in here injured, they're a lot closer to death than having a broken nose." Thalia said, "Usually something like a punctured lung or a shattered... face… or something."

"Should I really be drinking the whole glass?"

"Well, it also tastes really good."

"Okay, how about I drink like, half of it. That should do something, right?"

Thalia shrugged.

"Hm." the boy said, "Well alright then."

He slowly brought the glass to his lips, tilting his head and the cup backward in a slow tandem. The golden liquid inched its way toward his mouth, and as soon as it came in contact with his tongue, he quickly retracted the glass to his lap, suddenly unable to focus on anything. His vision tunneled and his ears filled with a painful ringing. His hands were shaking and numb, so much so that he almost dropped the cup. He could barely make out the sound of Thalia saying something to him, shaking his shoulder in the process.

"...lright? Hey! Calm down."

The boy nervously glanced down at the glowing drink before he spoke, softly and shakily.

"...Mom?"

Thalia stepped back in shock.

"What?" she asked, "I'm not your mom."

"No. No! No no no." the boy quickly stood up and apologized, "Sorry! I just…" He took a deep breath, "What do YOU taste when you drink it?"

"Well, it's different for all demigods." she said, "Usually your favorite taste or food, something like that. I personally taste the awesome barbeque that they serve here."

The boy's eyes widened as he stared down into the drink.

"I… I tasted… I tasted home."

"Like... the walls?"

"No. It was like everything that my mother ever made for me and my family, everything she ever did, every time she ever loved. It was home. I tasted the feeling of… having a home again."

The boy felt something cold traveling down his face.

"Are you crying?" Thalia asked.

The boy lifted a finger to his face, feeling the tears flowing down his cheeks. He took a deep breath before speaking.

"Can… can I… hug you?"

Thalia stepped back lightly, and the boy took it as a no.

"Oh. Sorry, that probably overstepped some boundaries."

It took less than a second before Thalia surged forward and wrapped her arms around him.

"It's okay to cry sometimes." She said, her eyes beginning to water as well.

"I know. It's part of my monthly routine. Now, how about you tell that to yourself?"

Thalia shook her head.

"There's never any time for tears in the demigod world. Most people take tears as a sign of weakness, anyway, and as a daughter of Zeus, I feel like it's my responsibility to be the powerful one, the leader, the strong one. I just…" She couldn't finish her sentence, not trusting her own words anymore.

The boy frowned slightly before standing up and reciprocating the embrace.

"Crying… tears aren't a sign of weakness. That's not why people cry. People cry because they've been strong for too long."

Thalia sniffed a few times before sobbing into his shirt, clutching it like it was her only anchor to reality. Like it was a dream, and if she let go, she would wake up.

"You remind me of my brother, so much!" She said through chokes and sniffs.

"You're just like my sister. Strong, independent, not afraid to show emotion."

It was that moment when Annabeth returned to the room, the Di Angelos trailing behind her.

"Hey Chiron, I found…"

She trailed off as she saw her best friend and the boy quietly embracing one another, silently crying.

'What happened here?' She mouthed to Chiron, who simply smiled and mouthed, 'Later'

The boy released Thalia from the hug, realizing that Annabeth had reentered the room.

"Hey, so how's it going?" He asked Nico, rubbing the tears from his face, "You like it here?"

"It's so AWESOME!"

The boy raised an eyebrow as if to tell Nico to continue, grabbing the cup of nectar from where he had placed it and taking another sip, warmth filling his body as his nose began to heal.

"Did you see anything cool?"

Nico began spouting off something about flying horses, but the boy leaned off to the side toward Chiron, who sat with a continued smile upon his face.

"Chiron, while I'm here, you should probably know-"

"Hey!" Nico interrupted, "Are you even listening?"

"Yeah. You… uh… saw the pegasi, right?"

"Yeah! And there were fish horses too! They were all like…"

The boy smiled as he took another sip of the nectar and turned back to Chiron.

"Anyway, like I was saying, while we were in Maine we ran into the manticore. That Persian bastard attacked me and those two kids, said something about the General. Artemis and her lieutenant confirmed that the General was Atlas. We believe that he may have escaped from underneath the sky."

Chiron's happy smile quickly morphed into a troubled grimace. His eyes found their way to the floor as he rubbed his face.

"We should have seen this coming."

The boy raised an eyebrow as he took another sip.

"Why's that?"

"Two years back, the master bolt was stolen, as well as the helm of darkness."

The boy snorted.

"Heh. I bet someone got smote there."

"Not quite. You see, a demigod that used to live here, a son of Hermes named Luke, he stole the bolt and the helm through Ares. Luke was always troubled, but we never expected him to join Kronos."

"And… how does this have to do with Atlas?"

"We learned after Luke attempted to kill Rhys Manteo, the son of Hermes that was in Maine with Annabeth and Thalia, that the titan king was rising. After research, we found that he began his recovery almost immediately after his defeat in the first Titanomachy."

The boy's eye twitched.

"If he's been rising for over four millennia, how is it that you've never noticed before now?"

"Well, It began with a sudden release of powerful monsters from Tartarus, very soon after his defeat. For a long time after that, no more stirrings were spotted, until very recently. He has been biding his time, recovering power and building armies."

The boy inhaled deeply through his nose and sighed, rubbing his eyes.

"Of course it was Kronos…" he huffed.

"What?"

"Nothing. Just… do you have anything that could help with our… Atlas situation?"

Chiron rubbed his chin thoughtfully, looking at the ceiling like it would give him the answer.

"There is… one thing."

Before the boy knew what was happening, he was standing at the end of the hallway Thalia had walked into, staring at a small door in the roof.

"What in the HELL could possibly be in the attic?" he asked himself, swiping at the dangling cord that hung from the handle. He finally managed to get a hold of it and jerked it down, not expecting it to fall as fast as it did. The rickety ladder collapsed into place like a bullet train, creating a gunshot-like bang when it collided with the floor (and his foot)

"Gods _**DAMN!**_" he shouted, jerking his foot from underneath the ladder.

Someone snickered down the hall.

"SHUT UP."

The snickering turned to full-blown laughter. The boy just rolled his eyes as he inspected the old ladder.

"This thing seems really unsafe!" he called, receiving a 'deal with it' in response.

"I will not deal with it how dare they," he said sarcastically. It took him half a second to decide that he didn't want to risk climbing the old ladder, and opted to leap into the air and hook his arms over the ledge that was created when the ladder came down. He hoisted himself upward like a crane and rolled over, finally getting into a position where he could stand up without injuring himself. The attic was full of insane junk (that he honestly thought was pretty cool) that looked really dangerous, even a scarf. Neon hot pink and covered in so much perfume that the air around it was just a cloud of ozone shredding gases.

"Dear gods. Aphrodite needs to chill with the perfume."

He walked past a few more trophies and souvenirs such as a stuffed hydra head and a sword hilt labeled 'Leroy'. He almost stopped to admire a shield that had an imprint of what looked like an empousai face in it, but a shadowy figure caught his attention.

"No way…"

He shoved his way past a table of assorted monster parts, stuffed heads and claws, to find himself face to face with a dead body.

"The Oracle..."


	4. Chapter 4

**Alright.**

**Reviews.**

**Kacher.**

**Thanks.**

**So about her attacking him.**

**What would you do if some random person said they had sex with a bunch of your (kind of) siblings?**

**ALSO I fixed one of those things so it makes slightly more sense (maybe?) (not really?)**

**My editor IS trying to force me to watch a ton of anime, so that might have something to do with it.**

**As for the bus.**

**It floated in the original so it floats in my book. Rescue squad canoe knocked on the door.**

**Anyway thanks for the review! I hope I get to see your comments often.**

**bigredbox13**

**If you're even seeing this, this story is basically the exact same thing. I just wanted to restart it cause I couldn't figure out what to do with the old one.**

**There's also this guest who comments in not-so-great English, but I still enjoy it nonetheless. They're mostly just stuff saying that they like the work.**

**I don't own Percy Jackson**

* * *

Thalia was not having a good day.

First, she got stuck dancing to crap music with a satyr that had two left feet.

Then she chased down a monster and didn't get to kill it.

THEN some stupid shit made her drive the sun…

…

And then she crashed it into the lake…

And now, she was slumped in a chair bouncing ping pong balls off the wall to keep her distracted while they waited for him to return. Annabeth was standing beside her chair, rubbing her hair softly, and the Di Angelos were playing a round of table tennis.

"So, what exactly made you cry?" Annabeth asked, "Did he say something? Do I need to beat him up again? He's still got like half a glass of nectar over there."

"Nah… I'm good. He did say something, but it wasn't anything bad. He just… He gave me a good reason to cry. Just to let it all out." Thalia said.

"And what was that?"

"He said that crying wasn't a sign of weakness. That it meant people have been strong for too long. It just made me feel like I had to."

Annabeth smiled softly before snickering, "That sounds like a cheesy quote from a google search."

"Maybe it was, but it was helpful. I needed that-"

Suddenly the door slammed open and in walked the lieutenant of the Hunters, regal and intimidating as ever.

"Chiron." she said sharply, "We must speak-"

Chiron held up a hand to stop her.

"About Atlas?" he asked, raising an eyebrow as Zoe began to sputter.

"How did you know that?" She demanded, slamming a fist on the ping pong table, and as if on cue, the boy waltzed back into the room at that exact moment.

"What'd I miss?" He asked as he slid over to Thalia and draped an arm around her shoulder.

Zoe growled as she spoke, "Did you tell him about Atlas?"

"Sure did, silver bullet. Why? Is that an issue?"

Zoe growled some more.

"So," The boy said, "I'm not sure what you wanted me to see up there cause if it was the oracle, nothing happened. I tried using code words and stuff but nothing worked. Abracadabra, Zeus is a gigantic ass, even open sesame. Nothing."

Nico giggled from next to the nacho cheese machine, which was currently pouring sauce onto his hand.

"Well, maybe... let miss Nightshade try?" Chiron suggested as he wheeled toward the door, "I will gather the cabin leaders, just in case we receive a prophecy."

Zoe huffed irately as she shuffled out of the room and toward the attic.

For the next five minutes, the boy sat idly beside Thalia's chair, spinning a pen he had produced from his pocket in his fingers.

"Where'd you get that pen? Looks fancy." Thalia asked, leaning over the armrest of her seat.

"I got it from my best friend." He said sharply, catching the pen and examining the word engraved on the side.

"Touchy subject? Or something?"

The boy sighed wistfully, leaning his head against the chair.

"No. It's just… Lemme put it this way. I knew this girl once. She was… perfect. She had it all. She was smart, sweet, beautiful as hell. Either the bravest person I ever met or the most stubborn."

Thalia and Annabeth smiled softly at each other, seeing his eyes getting misty and his lips forming a small smile.

"She was independent, probably didn't need me, but she kept me around anyway. Badass to no ends. She tackled a hydra one time just for the hell of it. She never believed me when I told her she was flawless but I said it anyway. She was just the best, and I think…"

He paused, staring at the pen once more as he fingered the tool.

"Come on, say it!" Thalia urged, rubbing his hair roughly.

"I think… I think I was in love with her."

"Was?"

"I… am. I totally still am. I just… I haven't had the chance to be the friend I should have been in a long time."

Thalia pouted.

"Lame excuse man. Why wouldn't you be able to be a friend?"

"Well, in the wise words of Billie Joe Armstrong, I walk a lonely road."

"The only one that you have ever known?"

"I don't know where it goes."

"But it's home to you."

"So I walk alone."

"Still a lame excuse. You shouldn't just give up on love because you're a loner."

"Believe me, if it was my choice I would have never left. My stupid uncle kicked me out for being too dangerous and for beating up his son."

Before Thalia could ask what he meant, the door that they had entered through slammed open, simultaneously causing the boy to knock his head against the wall and sending Thalia off her chair in surprise. Two rowdy boys tumbled through the door and landed in a heap, each trying to stick their spit covered fingers in each other's ears. They wrestled for a moment before the older one managed to jam his index into the younger one's ear, who reeled back in disgust and flailed his arms.

"Screw you, Travis!" He yelled, desperately trying to remove the saliva from his ear before noticing that the room was occupied.

"What up everybody?" He asked semi-casually, leaning against the wall in an attempt to look cool, and then failing by very noticeably rubbing his ear and squirming in discomfort, "I'm Connor, the clearly more handsome and better at everything brother of the two of us."

Travis scoffed from the door, mimicking the pose that Connor had pulled.

"I do believe that I'M..." He flipped his hair, "better at everything."

"Oh YEAH?!" Connor challenged, getting up in Travis's face, "Why's THAT?!"

"Well for one, I can pull off this pose without looking stupid."

Half a second later, he slipped and fell, banging his head against the floor.

"Yeah. That didn't look stupid at all." Connor snickered.

"Shut up!"

Through the next five minutes, more demigods continued to trickle into the room, eventually filling every chair. Chiron had retaken his seat across from Thalia and was attempting to quiet everyone down.

"Everybody, please quiet down!" He tried, but it only seemed to make the talking louder.

"Do you need help?" the boy asked, but Chiron shook his head.

"No thank you," he said before stamping his hoof into the floor, creating a noise that sounded strangely similar to a whip being cracked.

"SILENCE!" He shouted, finally getting the attention of all the demigods, "Thank you. Now for those of you who don't know, Atlas may have escaped from underneath the sky-"

The room exploded into feared screaming, but the boy quickly stood and slammed his fist against the wall, easily overpowering the screaming with the force of the hit.

"HEY!"

Everyone stopped and turned to him in fear. The boy felt a slight twinge of satisfaction as he knew that it wasn't only Atlas that frightened them.

"Calm your asses down and listen so you know why you're here!"

He turned to Chiron and nodded for him to continue before sitting back down on the floor. Chiron coughed and blinked before continuing, "As I was saying, Atlas may have escaped from underneath the sky. We gathered everyone because we are fairly sure that we will get a prophecy today. If everyone will please remain quiet until miss Nightshade returns, it would be much appreciated."

A minute later, Zoe walked back into the room with a distressed look plastered on her face.

"Did you get a prophecy?" Annabeth asked eagerly, leaning forward in anticipation.

Zoe nodded, still looking too stunned to speak.

"...Are you going to tell us what it was?

Zoe shuddered before speaking.

West away to a curse been broken,  
To only be mended by an endless devotion,  
Far too long a senseless divide,  
Love long lost shall be her guide.

She paused, taking in a shaky breath.

Trials of metal, revolution in flame,  
What once was taken can now be reclaimed,  
Daughter of strength reveals the test,  
And return the titan at kings behest

"Sounds like you've got a crush, little miss man-hater." The boy said, slipping his pen back into his pocket, "doesn't that break your... terms and conditions of being a hunter?"

Zoe's face went as red as a strawberry.

"HOW DARE YOU!?" She screeched, whipping out a dagger and advancing on him, "YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I WENT THROUGH BEFORE I BECAME A HUNTRESS!"

The boy raised an eyebrow.

"And what if I do?"

Zoe froze and dropped her knife, gaping like a fish.

"Well does somebody want to tell me that I'm wrong?" He asked, scanning the room.

"How... would you know?" Annabeth asked tentatively.

The boy growled softly, running a hand through his messy hair.

"Because my mother told me the real story."

Zoe still stood in shock, eyes as wide as dinner plates.

"Zoe, believe it or not, I respect you." he said, "Anyone who could go through what you did and bounce back perfectly fine, you deserve respect. Anyone who denies you that respect doesn't deserve any themselves."

Zoe blinked a few times, her eyes shining with a thin layer of tears.

"But I'm not perfectly fine…" she whispered.

LINEBREAK

The boy was rummaging through a wooden chest full of weapons, while Thalia, Annabeth and the Di Angelos looked around behind him.

"Do you have anything other than crappy rusty swords in here?" He asked, pulling out a severely disfigured sword.

"Not much. Every once in awhile the Hephaestus kids make new stuff, but they mostly tinker with random machines that do who knows what." Annabeth said, examining a broken bow that had been hanging on the wall.

The boy produced a decent looking axe from the chest and examined it thoroughly.

"Do you like that one?" Thalia asked, "It doesn't look half bad."

"It's not balanced enough." he complained, "I wish I could use my own sword. Or my spear. They're perfectly balanced, perfectly weighted, perfectly super duper awesome."

"Well, why don't you?"

"I'll just practice my punches. You guy's got a punching bag or something?"

"Uh… maybe in the back? Check on the floor."

The boy stood up and closed the chest, moving further back in the storage shed. Lying on the floor, just as Thalia had said, were three sand-filled punching bags. He reached down to grab one and hoisted it over his shoulder easily, shocking Thalia and Annabeth.

"...How are you doing that?" Annabeth asked, "That's almost two hundred pounds! You're lifting it like it's a feather!"

"Uh… practice makes perfect? I don't know? I spent a lot of time lifting logs and stuff in the woods. Maybe that's why."

Annabeth shamelessly grabbed his right upper arm and examined it like it was a diamond.

"You have the physique of a god! Your arm is rock solid!"

Thalia snickered.

"You like what you see?" he joked, posing like Johnny Bravo, "Man I'm pretty."

Only now did Annabeth realize what she had done.

"NO!" She screeched, blushing madly as she covered her face. Thalia and the boy were both laughing about as hard as they could.

"Come on, I'm not that handsome, am I?" He managed through laughter, barely refraining from dropping the bag on his shoulder.

"SHUT UP!" She yelled, driving her fist into his stomach, only for her to reel back in pain, clutching her knuckles.

"GODS DAMN IT!"

"What now?" He asked through chuckles.

Annabeth groaned as she leaned against the wall, rubbing her face.

"Physique of a god… why didn't I notice that earlier!? GODS!"

The boy sighed as he moved toward the door, "I deserved it earlier. It's not easy to hurt someone who doesn't actually want to be hurt."

"What about all those scars you have?" Thalia asked, gesturing to his face, where his scar suddenly felt as if it was on fire.

"I said it wasn't easy. Not impossible."

It didn't take long for them to approach the training arena, which was lined with rows of demigods hacking and slashing at cotton filled dummies. On one end of the arena, there were metal bars sticking out of the Grecian columns that surrounded the arena. He moved to the closest one and hung the bag on it, stabilizing it so it wouldn't spin or swing too much.

"Do you need and tape or anything?" Thalia asked as she grabbed a spear that was propped against the wall.

Wordlessly, the boy pulled his own boxing tape from his pocket, quickly and professionally beginning to wrap it around his hand.

_Thumb through the loop_

_ Around the wrist three times_

_ Up and across_

_ Between the index and the thumb_

_ Around the palm and repeat_

_ Repeat_

_ Around the wrist_

_ Around the thumb_

_ Around the wrist_

_ Up and between the pinky and the ring_

_ Around the wrist, up and between the ring and the middle_

_ Around the wrist, up and between the middle and the index_

_ Around the wrist, around the palm three times_

_ Repeat until almost no wrap left_

_ Around the wrist_

_ Secure wrap._

"Whoa." Thalia said, "Okay. Do you only have the one?"

The boy pulled another wrap out from the same pocket, which shocked Thalia because it looked as if the pocket had been empty, even the first time.

_Repeat on other hand_

"Guess not."

The boy slowly began pounding the bag, hitting it with his left hand, then right.

_Left Jab_

_ Right Hook_

"Do you actually box in reality or something?" Bianca asked, sloppily attempting to imitate the punches.

The boy slammed his fist into the sandbag once more and paused, reaching for the clip that held his cloak around his neck.

"I have. Not professionally or anything, but I've done it."

He let the cloak fall from his shoulders and swiftly caught it without looking, tossing it onto the corner of one of the columns.

"Can you even reach that?"

"I'll worry about it later."

He then reached down grabbed the hem of his shirt, pulling it over his head and dropping it to the ground, revealing a large tattoo that resembled an extremely realistic flame that spanned across and around both arms and swirled to a connection over his heart, and entangled into a tapestry of interwoven flames on his back.

Bianca took in a sharp breath as he hit the bag again.

"Why… why did you do that?" She asked, flustered.

"You need flexibility to fight. Don't want it to get too hot either."

"I-I mean, it's winter at the moment, but whatever."

"I'd personally say it's hotter now." Thalia said, spinning her spear and slicing the neck of a dummy, "Don't you think so, Annie?"

"SHUT IT!"

"Do you… do you think you could teach me?" Bianca asked, weakly throwing a punch at the air.

He roughly halted a jab in midair and turned to her.

"To punch?"

Bianca shrugged, "You made it look so easy with the manticore, I don't know. It looked effective."

The boy gave her a small smile for keeping up the lie.

"I mean sure, why not. It's not super hard. First, get in position."

The boy lifted his fists defensively, blocking his face. Bianca imitated, albeit not perfectly.

"Not bad. Lift your fists a little more and make yourself smaller."

Bianca crouched down and brought her fists in.

"Decent enough. Okay, so basically just jab forward with your left hand."

Bianca weakly thrust her fist forward, hard but barely enough to do any real damage.

"Hold up."

He produced another two rolls of tape from his pocket and began wrapping it around her hands.

"Where in the world are you keeping those?" Thalia asked, stabbing her spear into the ground.

"I keep spares."

"But it doesn't even look like you have anything in your pockets!"

"Done. Okay. Hit me in the stomach right now."

Bianca punched again, hitting him but not even close to powerful enough to do damage.

"Harder."

She hit him once more, still not fazing him.

"Harder!"

Punch.

"I almost felt that one! Hit me as hard as you can!"

Bianca deeply inhaled before throwing her right fist forward and striking him in the direct center of his abdomen, startling him and sending him sliding backward five feet. Annabeth and Thalia looked on in shock as the boy gasped for air.

"Oh my gods." he choked through a pained breath, eyes wide, "How did you do that?!"

Bianca nervously glanced at his stomach, where a large bruise was already forming. She looked at her wrapped hands in shock.

"I… I don't know. Sorry! Are you hurt?"

"Well yeah, but that was incredible! Do it again!"

"Are you insane?!"

"Probably. Come on, hit me!"

Bianca huffed and swung again, but almost nothing happened when her fist made contact.

"What happened?" He asked.

Bianca examined her fist in disappointment and said, "For half a second I felt like the Black Widow. Man."

"Well shit. I thought we were onto something. Go practice on one of those dummies."

Bianca walked over to Thalia, who directed her to a mannequin that wasn't currently being hacked to pieces, and the boy moved back to the sandbag.

"How about we see if I can do whatever she just did to this stupid bag."

_Jab_

_ Hook_

Same practice as always, he thought, just like before…

Before...

_ "...before I do something you won't like."_

The boy froze momentarily as a buried memory resurfaced painfully. He shook his head in an attempt to make it go away as he hit the bag again.

_Hook_

_ Jab_

_ "What could you possibly do?"_

A question he regretted asking.

_Jab_

_ "I will harm your mother."_

Anger flared in his heart at the mere thought of those words. He hit the bag harder as if it were the one who said it.

_Hook_

_ "I'll make sure you never do that."_

_ HOOK_

_ "Then leave, or I will."_

_ JAB_

_ "Try me."_

The boy didn't even bother to try and correct his form as his fist hit in an awkward position. It only angered him more.

_"Do you really wish that of me?"_

The boy was now viciously and violently attacking the sandbag as if it were a monster that pissed him off. Everyone in the arena had stopped what they were doing to watch the display.

_"If you ever go near my mother, I will-"_

_ Punch_

_ KICK_

_ PUNCH_

_ "You are in no position to be making threats, boy,"_

_ PUNCHPUNCHKICK_

_ "Now LEAVE,"_

_ KICK_

_ "OR YOUR MOTHER"_

_ PUNCH_

_ "DIES!"_

The boy swirled around the bag like he had dodged a projectile and shoved his fist forward. The bag exploded from the seams, tearing from its hook and flying across the arena, stopping at a demigod's feet who promptly passed out.

"Holy shit!" Thalia gasped, "Are you alright?!"

Instead of responding or calming down, He turned to the marble column that the bag had been handing off of and slammed his fist into it, the marble exploding like salt and gravel under the force. Through his heaving breath, he could hear the demigods running off in fear.

"Hey!" Thalia called, "What's up with you?"

He ignored her question and fell to his knees, clawing at his head to try and expel the voices from his mind. He could faintly hear a fifth pair of footsteps enter the arena, but didn't pay any mind to it, as the voices would not relent.

_YOUR MOTHER DIES!_

_ MOTHER DIES!_

_ DIES!_

_ DIES! DIES! DIES!_

"No…" He muttered, or at least he thought he was muttering. The voices were soloudpleasestop-

"Calm down!" Thalia yelled, running over and placing a hand on his shoulder. It provoked the exact opposite reaction that she hoped. The touch caused him to thrash his arms outward and stumble forward, only to fall back to his knees a few meters away and continue breathing heavily.

"Thalia you need to get him to calm down. I think He's having a panic attack. Something must have triggered one-"

"NO!" He shouted, rolling onto his back, "No panic attacks! The voices are just TOOLOUDSTOPIT!"

He rolled over once more, ending at the feet of the fifth pair of footsteps, which was the lieutenant of the hunters. For a moment he looked as if he was calming down, but only screamed louder, causing Zoe to jump back as he swept his arms around and throw himself into a sitting position, clutching his head in pain.

"Guy! Come on listen to me!" Annabeth said as she moved over to him, crouching down to his eye level.

"They won't stop…" He said weakly, shaking his head and covering his ears.

"It happens to a lot of demigods, you're not alone."

"Yeah but not many demigods and break a marble column with their fists. I'm dangerous." He said miserably.

"You're not that dangerous." Annabeth ensured, but he shook his head once more.

"I am. You don't know what I can do. I haven't even used my powers yet."

"Some of us are dangerous, it comes with being a demigod. Okay, you've gotta give me a name to call you, this'll be tough if I can only call you guy."

"... Call me John. Anything to get the voices to go away! They won't stop!" He covered his ears in pain once more.

"That's not even your real name, is it?"

He shook his head.

"Okay, whatever. Has this happened before?"

He nodded slowly.

"For how long?"

"Ever since I got kicked out."

"How long ago was that?"

"Too long."

Annabeth sighed, rubbing her face, "Believe me, I know how you feel. Okay, tell me something you can feel, John."

"Pain."

"Something else?"

"Uh… the ground?"

"Good. Something you hear?"

"Voices. Too many voices."

"One more thing."

He let out a shaky breath, "You?"

Annabeth nodded, "Okay, focus on those things. Ignore the voices and the pain."

He shook his head roughly, "Too loud."

Thalia also kneeled down, taking his hands within her own, "John, focus on my hands and my voice."

"Your hands and your voice…"

"What do you feel?"

He gently rubbed her hands, examining every surface, every mark, every detail.

"There's a scar right below your pinkie? And… uh… your thumb feels a little crooked. Like it's been broken before."

"Good. Take deep breaths, focus on what you feel."

He inhaled until he couldn't inhale anymore, and then jumped when he felt a cloth being draped over his head.

"Sorry! I just… thought you might want that back." Bianca said, having dropped his cloak over his head. It had fallen to the ground when he knocked down the column.

"...Thank you." He said softly, wrapping himself in the fabric and clutching the corner like his life depended on it.

"So," Thalia said, gingerly removing her hands from his, "You alright?"

"I'm… I'm good. Thank you… so much."

"Hey, don't worry about it, Jack. It happens to the best of us."

"No seriously, thank you as much as possible. Whenever that's happened before, I've never had someone to calm me down. I just have to wait and wait, sometimes for days, for it to stop. I would pray to the gods for help, but it never worked."

Thalia gave him a sympathetic look, "And they never helped you, not once?"

He shrugged, "Sometimes I would get this feeling like someone was hugging me from afar, but it was just a feeling."

"Excuse me," Zoe cut in, startling everyone from her previous lack of words, "If you're quite done feeling sorry for yourself, I would like to practice my archery."

"Do you have NO SYMPATHY?!" Thalia screeched, "He just had a panic attack!"

Zoe scoffed, "And?"

"Did you not see him rolling on the floor in pain?!"

"I simply do not care."

"Have you ever even had a panic attack before?!"

"Lady Artemis prevents all mental ailments from disabling her hunters."

"DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT A PANIC ATTACK IS?!"

"I am aware."

"Son of a BITCH! You don't even care!"

"I already said that, so yes."

Thalia yelled in exasperation before storming off to a corner and punching a dummy.

"Lady Nightshade," The boy said, "I do not wish for you to rub my weakness in my face so if you are here to taunt me, I wouldn't waste your breath."

"I was actually here to invite you all on my quest to return Atlas to his prison."

Thalia stopped punching the dummy and stomped over, "Seriously? Why do this to people! You just get their hopes up and then laugh when they realize you don't care! Go find some hunters instead!"

"I do not wish for any huntresses to come on this quest other than myself. I can not in good conscience put any of my sisters in danger while Lady Artemis is absent."

"So you'd rather have us die than your hunters."

"That is what I am implying, yes."

"Do I get to go on a quest?!" Nico shouted, leaping over and jumping up and down."

"Nico no." Bianca said, "You're not going on a crazy quest."

"Why do you get to go?"

"Oh no! I'm not going… am I?"

Zoe did not nod, but she had a hopeful look in her eyes.

"It is difficult to gain respect in this world. There is no better way to do so than succeeding on a quest. So, will you go?"

Bianca shifted uncomfortably, "I'll think about it."

"Hold up, let me get this straight." Thalia said, "You're telling me that you WANT to bring a male on a quest?"

Zoe sighed, "After everyone had dispersed from the 'Big House' Chiron and I decided that, since we suspected Atlas may have escaped, to find out who had taken his place. The results were… quite unsettling."

The boy stood up, beginning to unwrap his hands, "What does this have to do with me?"

"We sent an Iris message to the garden of the Hesperides, where Atlas holds… used to hold the sky. It revealed that… that Lady Artemis had taken his place underneath the sky."

The boy froze, fear flashing in his eyes.

"What?" He asked warily.

"You heard me."

"How the hell did he get Artemis underneath the sky?"

Zoe shrugged, "We can only assume that she took the burden from a maiden or a child, and a child would not have the willpower or strength to hold the sky."

The boy sighed and turned away, cursing.

"So you want to bring me so I can hold the sky for her?"

"Precisely."

The boy sniffed and turned away, "I'm not just a tool, you know."

Zoe scoffed before speaking, "Of course you are! You act like a child all the time, only on impulse and rage! You have never displayed any sort of intelligence in my presence, no worth, no power!"

"I'm not stupid."

"You're an idiotic, powerless fool! If you wish to prove me wrong, then take me down, right now!"

Anger flashed in his eyes, but he made no move to stand.

"Just as I thought." She said, miffed.

"I have nothing to prove to you. I know my worth." He said, turning his head back to his feet, twiddling his thumbs.

"And to think I wanted you on my quest."

He stood up and walked over to the destroyed sandbag, lifting it and tossing it to the side, "I have no desire to go on any quest, regardless of who it is to save."

Zoe's nostrils flared as she stomped over to the boy and slapped him, leaving a red mark on his face.

"I don't care if you want to or not, you're coming!"

"You trying to slap some sense into me?"

"That's exactly what I'm doing."

"That brings back memories." Thalia said, "My mother would literally slap sense into me."

The boy shivered at the thought, "No offense, but your mother sounds terrible."

"I mean, it wasn't fun, but I got used to it. What, you're telling me your mother never smacked you around?"

The boy smiled weakly, "Nah. My mom is too nice. If I ever screwed up around her she would just chide me. Usually, it was a calm reassurance making sure that I knew that what I did was wrong. I think the worst it ever got was the time I almost killed my brother. It wasn't exactly an accident, so of course, she yelled at me… or… sternly reprimanded me for about seven minutes before we ate dinner.

"You… almost killed your brother?"

"I mean… we were fighting so yeah, and I had my sword, so…"

Thalia's eyes were frozen open, "Wow. What did you do to him?"

"I kind of might have stabbed him and maybe twisted it."

Thalia recoiled.

"Well, the twist was an accident!" He quickly said, "I stabbed him, yeah, but he kicked my shins and I fell!"

"And you're telling me that your mother didn't kill you for doing that?"

"Nah. She understood. We came to a mutual understanding that my brother is annoying."

Zoe let a small smile develop, "Your mother sounds like a wonderful woman."

He sighed wistfully, "The best. Anyway, as I said before, I'm not just a tool, so if your only intention is to bring me because you think that I'm stupid enough to hold the damn sky, my answer is no."

Zoe huffed, crossing her arms, "I see. You think you can't do it."

"Of course I think I can do it! I'm just not stupid enough to try!"

"Hm. Usually, when you threaten the masculinity of a male they agree to stupid stuff more easily."

"Yeah. Usually. Not always."

"So are you coming or not?"

"Well someone's gotta make sure these two idiots don't die." He said, before Annabeth and Thalia could move away, grabbed them in headlocks.

"Hey!" Thalia said, attempting to escape the trap, "I'll have you know that I am certified in ass-kicking!"

Zoe rubbed her face in exasperation, "Two? Do you not mean three?"

"Oh yeah," He said, turning to Bianca, "I forgot about Supergirl over here. So, whaddya think? You wanna go?"

Bianca nervously began twiddling her thumbs and tapping her left foot, "I don't know. I'm not qualified for this at all. You all seem like you're more than prepared to do this."

"Well, sure, being trained has its perks,"

In the blink of an eye, he swiped the spear that Thalia had been holding and displayed a spectacular spinning motion before thrusting it forward, the spearhead stopping less than an inch from Bianca's face. He retracted it, smiling softly as Bianca tried to catch her breath.

"But it's not technically necessary. Besides, we can train you ourselves. You said it yourself, we're plenty qualified."

"You really want me to go?" she asked, nervously teetering back and forth.

"Well, think of it like this. You're standing on a ledge, and you can't see the bottom. If you trust us, you jump. If you don't, you'll never know what might be at the bottom."

"The only reason I'd go off a cliff is if someone pushed me."

"Well, how's this for a push? You may not know it, but you literally have it in your blood. You've been qualified since you were born. You have ADHD and dyslexia, right?"

"...How did you know that?"

"All demigods do. Except, it's not ADHD and dyslexia. The not being able to sit still? That's your battle reflexes. Not being able to read? It's because you're hardwired for ancient Greek."

"I mean that's cool and all, but-"

"You are literally fifty percent god."

Her eyes went blank as the sentence flew through her head.

"...Seriously?"

"Yeah, and if I'm not mistaken, it's one of the most powerful ones."

She lifted her shaking hands, staring at them like she could use them to destroy the world.

"Do you know my father?" She asked, letting her hands fall limply to her side.

He nodded lightly, "I'm almost positive that I know who it is, but I'm not gonna say anything because f you come with us you'll probably figure it out. I don't wanna ruin the surprise."

To everyone's surprise, her demeanor completely flipped. Her eyes gained a steely confidence and she stood straighter. Her imposing presence filled the arena as she nodded.

"I'll go."

* * *

**Sorry about the longer wait. I was on vacation and then TripleG was busy for two days after I got back. This is the longest chapter yet though, about 1500 words longer than chapter one. ALSO NEXT CHAPTER THE QUEST STARTS YEAH.**

**Get hype.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Alright**

**Kacher again.**

**I mean first of, if you've read the original one, you know that he isn't just a regular demigod, so he obviously isn't on the same level as let's say, Thalia or Annabeth.**

**If the 'Anime logic' you're mentioning was the punching bag thing, he is much stronger than an average human, because he's not an average human.**

**Plus I had that idea in my head for a long time and just really wanted to use it.**

**And anything that was disrespectful was just him joking around. Of course, with someone like Zoe, she doesn't try to understand his humor. Yes, he tries not to be overly disrespectful, but it's in his nature to make jokes.**

**I like the idea of omake scenes though.**

**For the log thing.**

**I didn't mean in size, I meant in reference to solidity, not size.**

**I guess it did kind of sound like Gaston or something.**

**He appears 16 but isn't really.**

**If you haven't read the original and don't know what I'm talking about, ignore pretty much everything I'm saying.**

**And I guess it's mostly supposed to be feel good. I'm trying to write it the best I can, but mainly what we're going for is a comedic story. Of course, it isn't always like that, but y'know.**

**I really appreciate your reviews, thank you for leaving them!**

**MasterTrident**

**I see your point with the too hot thing. It was just supposed to be comedic I guess, but I see your point. I'll try to work on it, just a few word changes.**

**And the prophecy**

**Most people probably wouldn't notice that, but I'm glad you pointed it out. I acknowledge my mistake, but it will not be changed.**

**If you have a problem with that take it up with TripleG cause he wrote it and told me not to change it to avoid confusion.**

**I do not own Percy Jackson**

* * *

_THE NEXT MORNING_

"A van?"

The five future quest members and Chiron stood facing an old white van that read "Delphi Strawberry Service" on the side. The fenders were rusting on the edges and the tires were muddy. It just seemed extremely sad in general.

"Is this seriously all you have?"

The boy moved over to the side and drug his finger across the window, leaving dust on his fingertip.

"I can already hear the pedophiles asking me if I want candy."

Thalia snorted, "You act like the gods care about us. If they're not gonna give us more than like three cups of nectar, do you really expect them to give us a fancy sports car or anything."

"I mean I'd personally absolutely love it if they gave us the DeLorean or the General Lee or something."

"That would be pretty epic-"

"Would you two shut up?" Zoe snapped, "Just get in-"

"And help me find my puppy." The boy cut her off, chuckling.

He shut up when he received a fiery glare from Zoe.

"Whipped." Thalia whispered as she brushed past him, "Shotgun!"

The five piled into the van, causing it to sink underneath their weight. Zoe took the seat behind the wheel, Thalia in the passengers, Bianca and Annabeth directly behind them, and the boy in the open back.

"Now children," Chiron said, "it would best be advised to travel to Washington D.C. first, then across to San Francisco. From the capital, it is nearly a straight shot to Mount Tamalpais."

"Wait, mount Tam?" Bianca asked, "Why there?"

"The garden of the Hesperides. It is where Atlas holds… used to hold the sky."

Bianca shivered, "Are you guys sure I should be going on this quest? Isn't Atlas… like, y'know… a Titan?"

"Oh come on, don't start doubting yourself now!" The boy sighed, "Just remember. Fifty percent god."

"Okay, you've told me that like eight times now. Just cause I'm half god, that doesn't mean I can't still die! I have literally no idea what I'm doing!"

"Hm. I mean sure, but if I told you that you were zero percent god, wouldn't that be worse?"

Bianca grumbled and turned away, "Shut up."

The boy sat down against the wall on the surprisingly clean floor of the outward unkempt appearing van and began to relax as Bianca gave a final goodbye to her brother and Thalia said a few parting words to Chiron. The tension in his muscles disappeared as the van began moving slowly.

"So, driver, where to?" He asked, closing his eyes gently and slowing his breathing.

"I know you're a male and males are ignorant, but are you really so deaf that you didn't hear what Chiron said?" Zoe responded from behind the wheel.

"Yeah, I heard. Down to D.C. and across. I meant like, are there any important stops we have to make before we get there.

Before a response was made, Zoe slammed on the brakes and sent him flying into one of the chairs in front of him, specifically Thalias.

"OW! WHAT THE HELL?!" He cried as his head impacted something hard, slicing his skin and creating a steady flow of blood from somewhere on his forehead. He quickly and desperately rubbed his forehead at the point of impact, trying to remove the blood. He hissed in pain and annoyance as the liquid came into his vision, a sparkly orange-yellow substance that quickly shimmered into a crimson red.

"Oh my God!" Bianca gasped, "Are you alright?"

"...Peachy." He moaned, gently rubbing his head in pain.

"Then what was that?"

She gestured to his hand, which was now completely red, but she kept glancing at it, knowing she had seen something.

The boy clenched his fists and rubbed the liquid on his handmade cloth pants before turning away.

"It's nothing."

"Seriously, do you need nectar?"

"Bianca, this is nothing. We need to save that. I'll be fine, trust me."

He discreetly lifted a hand to his forehead and waved his fingers above the wound. The laceration disappeared from his forehead as he gently rested his head against the back of her seat and closed his eyes.

"You know you shouldn't sleep on a concussion," Thalia said, tapping his shoulder.

"I didn't get a concussion or any sleep last night so let me rest."

"You didn't sleep? Why?"

The boy took in a deep breath and tapped his fingers together, "I had too much on my mind. A panic attack does that to you."

Bianca inhaled deeply and turned away, deciding not to bother him anymore. The boy sighed and relaxed once more, closing his eyes. Before the gentle humming of the vehicle sent him into the realm of Morpheus, he could have sworn he heard Bianca mumble, "Do I say God or gods?

_**BOOM**_

Immediately after his eyes had closed, a thunderous crack tore through the air and jolted him awake.

At least, he thought so until his mind processed that he was no longer in the van.

A blindingly bright light surrounded him, blocking everything but two blurry figures, who were almost too far to see.

"_Brother, please think this through. He's my son and your nephew, please think about this."_

He recognized the voice as his loving mother, and could only assume that the other figure, was his uncle.

"_I have thought this through. He nearly killed my son, he deserves every bit of what I am about to do to him."_

The boy knew exactly what his uncle was referring to because the punishment that followed is one that has been following him for too long. The very thought of it sent spikes of hurt through his heart, piercing through his soul like the sharpest of bronze weapons.

"_Brother, you know why he did it. You saw, we all saw what your son tried to do to his friend. You know how protective my son is."_

The boy had never heard the conversation that had taken place before he was thrown out but still had somehow known that his mother knew why he did it.

"_Keyword __**tried.**_ _Not accomplished. No harm was brought to his friend."_

"_No offense brother, but harm __**was **__in fact brought to his friend, so please think before you speak."_

"_You dare to insult me?"_

"_Your son threw my son's friend into a rock and punctured her face with a club before slicing my son's eyes open with his own sword. My son had every right to attack yours."_

"Damn right I did." He grumbled though the others could not hear him.

"_Fine. If you think you have the audacity to insult me, back it up and duel me. If you win, your son will be free from harm. I win, he leaves forever."_

His mother opened her mouth to respond, but before a response could be spoken…

**THUMP**

Another loud noise flew through his ears, jolting him from his dream. He quickly sat up and looked around. The sun was beginning its descent from its peak in the sky, indicating that it was at least noon. Zoe was cursing and jerking the van to the side of the road. The vehicle was rattling, like a tire had popped. Somehow, Thalia, who he assumed had fallen asleep at some point when he himself has been, was sound asleep as the van jerked around and rumbled. Bianca drunkenly sat up from her sleep induced intoxication and darted her gaze around the vehicle. The boy leaned forward, placing a hand on the top of Thalia and Bianca's seats. Bianca sent a questioning glance to him, but he just shrugged.

"Damn it all!" Zoe shouted as the vehicle came to a stop, "A tire blew out."

"What the hell guys?" The boy mumbled, glancing upwards. Bianca sent a questioning glance, but he ignored it.

"I'll check it out. Gimme a sec." Annabeth said, opening her door and hopping out.

"How long was I out? Are we in D.C. yet?" The boy asked, blinking the lingering tiredness from his eyes.

"Yeah. About four hours." Bianca said, "We didn't really think you were gonna actually wake up after that hit. Speaking of which, how's your head?"

"I've got a bit of a headache, but that's what happens when you get your head knocked into some steel… or whatever's in those chairs."

Zoe offhandedly lifted her right middle finger in his direction.

"Y'know, for someone born like four thousand years ago, you're surprisingly modern."

She shoved her door open and slammed it behind her as she swung herself out of the vehicle. "Should we go and help?" Bianca asked.

The boy shrugged and swung the back door open to meet a disgruntled Annabeth, who was cursing at the back left tire. The Washington Monument stood tall behind her, sticking up like a needle from the earth.

"It popped." He guessed. Annabeth nodded and kicked the car. A rusty piece of unidentified metal clattered to the ground below it.

"What the Hades?! She cursed, kicking it harder.

"Y'know Hades doesn't like it when you use his name as a curse."

"WHO CARES!"

"He probably does."

"AAAAGH!"

Thalia stuck her head out of her own door, looking back at Annabeth in curiosity, "What happened?"

"You seriously slept through that?" Bianca asked.

"What did I sleep through?"

"The tire popped."

"Seriously?"

She hopped out of the car to check the damage. Another piece of metal, the exhaust pipe, fell to the asphalt below.

"Wow. Looks like more than the tire."

"Anything we could do?" The boy asked, "Spare tire? Spare… exhaust pipe…"

"Spare exhaust pipe? ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" Zoe shouted, "WHY ARE YOU SO DENSE?!"

"Calm down, it was a joke."

"A JOKE?! WE ARE STRANDED ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE NATION OF WHERE LADY ARTEMIS IS! WHY DID I EVER THINK BRINGING A MALE ALONG WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA?!"

"Listen, I get that in your head that if you ask a guy what they see in a girl they'd laugh like a neanderthal and scream 'My dick!" But not every male is like that, so I'd appreciate it if you'd let go of your prejudice because I know for a fact that there has been at least one male you've treated as an equal before. Please, just let it go until after we've rescued Lady Artemis."

A short flash of longing flashed across her gaze, but it was quickly replaced by a scowl.

"You-"

"Hey!" Bianca interrupted, "Anyone else hungry? I'm hungry. Let's go find somewhere to eat before you two rip each other's heads off.

Zoe hissed.

The boy gave a thumbs up.

Twenty minutes later, the group was strolling through the Mall, scanning for a place to have lunch before trying to figure out how they were going to continue their quest

"Hey, the Air and Space museum!" Thalia exclaimed as they walked past it, "I've been there before! My mom took my brother and me when we were really little!"

"Wanna see if it's changed at all?" The boy asked, "I don't know if I can stand it if I have to deal with Zoe glaring a hole in the side of my head any longer."

She nodded and grabbed his arm, dragging him in the direction of the museum.

"How long ago did you say you were here?" he asked.

"I… uh… I don't really know. It was when I was six, maybe. It's hard to tell. Like, I look fifteen to you, right?"

"Yeah."

"I'm actually more like eighteen. I got turned into that tree six years ago when I was twelve. For some reason, I aged while I was in it, but only at half the pace, so now I'm just about sixteen biologically but chronologically I'm like twenty years old."

"You never explained how you got turned into a tree."

"Well, you see-"

He froze. A suspiciously black trench coat stuck out against the bright green grass and tan walkways. Two different colored eyes, albeit slightly nervous and distracted, pierced through he and Thalia.

"Shit." He cursed, quickly speeding up.

"What? What is it?"

"Son of a bitch! How did he come back so fast?!"

Thalia turned in the direction he had been looking, seeing the dark coat and multicolored eyes. The color drained from her face as she began speeding up too.

"I thought you killed him!" She exclaimed, beginning to sprint.

"I did! I watched him turn to dust! I know monsters come back, but when they're that powerful it's never within a day!"

Ignoring all road laws, they both leaped into traffic and across the road, barely avoiding being creamed by a semi truck halfway across.

"Nothing like jaywalking in our nation's capital." He muttered as they burst through the doors of the Air and Space Museum, startling multiple people.

"What the hell?" someone whispered, "did you see-"

"His eyes, they were-"

"Eyes don't glow normally, right?"

"Cool."

Ignoring the whispering, he quickly ran over to the escalator, Thalia close behind.

"Thalia we need high ground. If Thorn comes after us it'll give us a big advantage. If he doesn't… well, let's just hope he doesn't send a Hydra in his place."


End file.
